15317 - Teaching of the Italian Language

Course contents

How do we learn a second language (L2)? How do people construct their own knowledge of a second language and learn to communicate in that language? To what extent do our native language and/or other languages we speak influence our ongoing learning? What does learning a language spontaneously in an ‘immersion’ context imply? Which factors most influence learning, and how do they lead to different outcomes? Why do we make mistakes? Why are some errors “fossilized”? How do we improve our linguistic competence? Which learning strategies do we apply? Which teaching strategies can facilitate language learning? More generally, what does it mean “to know a language?” Answers to these questions will be given as referred specifically to the learning of Italian as a 2nd language.

The general purpose of the course is to provide students with a comprehensive overview of the scientific literature on the learning of Italian and on interaction in Italian as a 2nd language. Drawing on different fields of research, this overview aims at offering a thorough grounding in knowledge to future teachers of Italian L2 (in Italy or abroad). It also addresses those who are training to be professionally engaged in activities related to immigration or in the internationalization of higher education areas and, for these reasons, are interested in knowing how interethnic interactions work.

Specific skills to be developed concern mainly the ability to “read and interpret” the linguistic, communicative and interactional competences of learners of Italian as 2nd language, as well as to identify the related teaching implications.

The course ( in the 2° semester) is organized as follows:

45 hours will be focused on the recent theoretical and practical developments of research on 2nd language acquisition. We will work on the L2 learner from a cognitive perspective, analyzing his/her written and oral productions. Starting from the key-notion of interlanguage , we will examine the general principles described in second language acquisition studies. Theoretical concepts will be related to practical situations of spontaneous and guided 2nd language learning. Several examples of authentic monological and dialogic interlanguage productions of children, adolescents and adults will be discussed. We will then focus on learning Italian as a second language, from a pragmatic and intercultural point of view. Starting from a basic knowledge of pragmatics and intercultural pragmatics, we will deal with culture seen as communication, taking into consideration aspects concerning the comprehension and production of discourse as well as the management of verbal interaction, through examples of interactions taken from different contexts. We will examine the pedagogical implications for classroom second language teaching;

25 hours: this part of the course is organized as a series of seminars and practical activities on Teaching Italian as a 2nd language. These activities are intended to provide some training on topics such as syllabus construction, lesson planning, teaching unit design, learners’ “linguistic profile”, assessment of communicative competence, etc. All these topics will be related mainly to the Italian multilingual and multi-ethnic school system. Teachers and experts of the field will be invited to give some seminars. The schedule will be given at the beginning of the course (February 2016).

Readings/Bibliography

Here you will find the main texts required for the programme. Other texts (articles, essays, book chapters) will be provided at the beginning of the course:

one of the following texts:

- G. Pallotti, La seconda lingua, Roma, Bompiani, 2000 [1998]

- C. Bettoni, Imparare un'altra lingua, Laterza, 2001

and:

1. C.Bettoni, Usare un’altra lingua.Guida alla pragmatica interculturale, Laterza, 2006

2. C.Bazzanella, «Quando dire è interagire» in C.Bazzanella, Linguistica e pragmatica del linguaggio. Un'introduzione, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2005 [cap. 5, pp.190-214]

3. R.Pugliese, “Comunicazione interculturale e contesti educativi” in G.Favaro, L.Luatti, L’intercultura dalla A alla Z, Milano, Franco Angeli, 2004, pp.290-303

Teaching methods

Frontal and group lessons; some workshops on the analysis of written productions of learners of Italian (in their interlanguage), and on some units and activities designed to improve learners' written and oral comprehension. 

Assessment methods

 

Assessment methods include (a) a written exam on the contents dealt with in the program 1st part and (b) an oral examination (questions) about the topics discussed in the 2nd part of the program

The written exam, which is preparatory to the oral one, consists of two parts: 2  open-answer questions plus the analysis of a couple of short texts produced by Italian L2 learners, to be carried out according to the conceptual tools discussed in class. Thus, students should apply their newly acquired knowledge on second language acquisition principles and theories.

The oral exam consists of both general and specific questions. Evaluation criteria of student's answers will be mainly the following: precision and appropriateness, an organic and broad view of themes, a capacity in establishing connections among topics, clearness and language accuracy in the oral exposition.

 

*Written exams results are normally issued within a few days or after a week, depending on the number of tests to be evaluated.

 

Teaching tools

power point; dvd; handouts

Office hours

See the website of Rosa Pugliese

See the website of Paola Polselli